Worth The Wait
by only here in your arms
Summary: Eli hated staying after school, but to make sure Clare would get home safe, it's worth the wait. ONE-SHOT.


**Eclare ONE-SHOT. Thanks for reading! Please review!**

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><p>Eli hated staying after school for an extra two hours to begin with, but a few more minutes didn't hurt. He was roped into tutoring and helping other students with English essays, since he was THE senior of Degrassi to have already been published and had the best English grade in Ms. Dawes' advanced English class. He had different people asking him for help and he tried to help the best he could; some people were just hopeless but Eli gave some notes for improvement.<p>

It was an entirely different Eli from the Grade 11 Eli who fought the school bully, almost got stabbed, and then crashed his hearse in order to save his relationship with Clare Edwards. He was reinvented, taking his Bipolar medication, and Eli was managing to have a normal senior year so far.

But his tutoring session came to last two hours and Eli, on the first day, walked to his (normal) car, hearing nothing but the trees rustling slightly since no other students seemed to be there. He sat in his car, texted Adam to say that he hated him for telling Dawes he'd spend every day tutoring, when he noticed someone walking out of the school and stopping at the front steps.

In her red polo and that heart sweater Eli thought matched her very well, Clare Edwards was staring at her phone and then gazed around as if she was waiting for someone. Maybe she was, Eli wasn't sure. Eli had a mental argument with himself, thinking that maybe he should offer her a ride home or maybe he should just leave, Clare probably didn't want anything to do with him anyways. But it would annoy him for a long time if Clare didn't have a ride and ended up walking home by herself when he could've just brought her home safely.

Eli must've argued with himself for a while because he hadn't noticed that distinct red truck pulling up to the school until he saw Clare smiling and climbing into the passenger side and it driving away.

Eli knew that Clare was still with Jake and he grumbled at himself for forgetting that Clare's _boyfriend_ was probably on the way to pick her up. But at least Eli knew that Clare was making it home safely…since the two lived in the same house but he chose to forget about that…and he drove home, only focusing on the fact that Clare was safely home.

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><p>It happened every day. Eli would leave school after two hours of editing essays for other students in Ms. Dawes' room and wait in his car to see if Clare would emerge. Eli imagined different scenarios every day why she would be staying after school so late. Maybe newspaper? Yearbook? New hobby? Eli didn't know and didn't ask but he liked to think that she was doing for fun.<p>

Everyday he'd watch the red truck, which Eli called a big waste of red metal and had no character, pull up to the steps of Degrassi and Clare always excited to see her brother—err, boyfriend, pick her up from school and then drive away.

Eli knew that this was sort of creepy, watching Clare after school and watching her leave, but it became a habit. He just had to know that someone was coming to pick Clare up and she was leaving safely. He would never forgive himself if he drove away and Clare didn't have a ride home. He already lost someone special to him when he didn't even have a second thought of Julia leaving, and she was hit by a car. It wouldn't happen again and Eli was going to make sure of it. Even though Clare wasn't his, she was still the most special person in his life besides his parents and he didn't care that Clare probably would hate it but Eli was going to watch over her, because that is the only thing he can do for her.

So every single day he'd take that extra several minutes to wait. He'd get home way later than he wanted, but those minutes were worth it, even if he was the only one to know.

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><p>Eli sat in his car reading the latest issue of Gothic Tales, waiting for the red truck to graze his peripheral vision. He mindlessly got through the entire edition when he finally realized that it was way past the time he was usually there and Clare was sitting on the front steps, phone in hand and a bored expression on her face.<p>

Was Jake not coming to pick her up?

It was already 30 minutes past when he usually came to pick her up and Eli became concerned. Was anyone going to pick her up? After another ten minutes, no cars came for Clare. Finally, when Eli saw Clare put her head in her hands, he started his car.

He knew it wasn't a good idea, nor was it a really healthy one because he was still completely in love with her and she moved on to his complete opposite, but Eli didn't want to see Clare upset. He pulled up to the front steps and brought the passenger side window down and said a simple word. "Hey."

Clare's head shot up in surprise and Eli couldn't help but give her a comforting smile.

"Hi," she told him softly.

"Do you need a ride?" he asked her cautiously.

Clare looked around as Eli waited for an answer, his heart pounding as he talked to her. Girls always talked about butterflies in their stomach when they spoke to the guy they liked but for guys, their hearts race but they wouldn't tell you that.

"Umm…no," Clare said, her eyes not looking at him. "My mom should be coming to get me."

"Are you sure?" Eli asked. "It's getting late."

Clare took a look at her phone and bit her lip. "Actually, yes, I need a ride…if you don't mind."

"Well I wouldn't be offering you a ride if I minded right?" And there was the sarcastic Eli that always came out to play in the conversations between Eli and Clare, months ago when they were still together. Eli was always sarcastic, but this sort of sarcasm involved a little bit of flirting. He hadn't flirted with anyone since Clare.

Clare climbed into the car and put on her seatbelt, rigid in her seat as if she didn't want to dent or ruin the fabric of the seat. Eli started driving and for a few minutes, it was complete silence. Finally, Clare was the first to speak.

"I didn't see you getting out of the school," she said, her head not facing him. "Unless, you went out a different way."

"Yeah, I went out the back way," Eli lied. "You know, the one closer to Dawes' room."

"Oh yeah, your tutoring," Clare said. "Adam told me about that, how he coerced you into doing it."

"Yeah, that jerk. I swear, I think he forces the worst writers of the school to come after school, a lot of them seem like they have never even learned how to spell the basic rules of spelling or punctuation, total messes." Eli started laughing a little and Clare followed suit and suddenly, it was a comfortable environment. The tension, the awkwardness, it was all gone.

"So, what do you stay after for?" Eli asked after their laughing.

"Yearbook," Clare answered. "I'm actually the head editor."

"That's cool. You quit newspaper?"

"Yeah," Clare said sheepishly. "Katie offered me my job but Ms. Oh thought that it was a good idea for me to stick with yearbook. Katie still had me doing guest pieces but I'm focusing more on yearbook."

After a few more minutes, Eli parked the car at the Edwards-Martin house and watched as Clare made no move to get out.

"Isn't that your mom's car?" Eli pointed out the one across the street. Clare nodded. "Did she forget to pick you up?"

"I guess so," Clare said with a shaky voice. "Um…Jake, he usually picks me up but…we broke up."

"Oh," Eli replied awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Clare told him. "But thanks."

"Must be awkward now," Eli said slowly, trying not to offend her.

"You have no idea," Clare laughed. "But now that I'm not with Jake and I'm not talking to Alli, I don't even know who I'll hang out with."

"Adam? And…me?" Eli offered. Clare finally looked at him. "Like last year, when we'd go to The Dot and Adam's house and you'd watch us play video games. We can do that again, if you want."

Eli was hopeful that Clare would say yes. Finally, after months of them not even glancing at each other, there was finally a chance for them to rebuild the friendship that they had before they started dating. Finally, Adam would be able to hang out with his two best friends again, something he continuously bothered Eli about.

"I'd like that," Clare smiled sincerely. "Thanks for…the ride."

"You're welcome," Eli replied. "Anytime."

Clare finally got out of the car and Eli watched as she opened the door and stepped inside. She waved to him and he waved back before she closed the door and once she did, Eli let out a deep, victorious sigh.

He pulled out his phone and texted Adam: "_Hey, thanks for making me do the tutoring. Staying after school finally has its perks_." Eli smiled all the way home.


End file.
